Dawn Xiana Moon: Melodic folk pop infused with passion and honesty. From Chicago.

Randomness Archives • Blogroll Me! • Atom XML Feed • RSS Feed

Thursday, December 19, 2002

Not Quite Tolkien

Midnight, December 18. With a handful of friends I took a break from the madness of finals and papers to watch the latest Lord of the Rings effort, which I'd been eagerly waiting to see for the last year. Half an hour after the film was supposed to start (the theater was understaffed and filled to the brim with other moviegoers), the signature theme music finally filled the air. The verdict? The Two Towers was excellently done, but took a few departures that fans of Tolkien’s novels will find disconcerting.

The film opened with Gandalf’s apparent death in Moria and highlighted his role as a Christ-like figure. This is not to say that Tolkien wrote an allegory—he didn’t—but Gandalf’s death and subsequent resurrection certainly point to his affinity with Jesus, a point that the film elucidates. We return to the wizard’s stand against the Balroc—“You shall not pass!”—and watch as the two fall, still fighting. They descend into a kind of hell where Gandalf (Ian McKellen) dies after finally defeating the demon. But he is sent back and returns as the second White Wizard in the film, this time more powerful than Saruman (Christopher Lee). When the members of the Fellowship first begin to recognize him in his new form, they are uncertain as to whether he is indeed the Gandalf they knew; he literally shines, a pure, blazing white. Reminds you of Jesus’ disciples when he first returned, doesn’t it?

With his new powers, Gandalf takes on Wormwood (Brad Dourif), who has trapped Theoden King (Bernard Hill); through the sugar-tongued advisor, Saruman has taken control of Rohan. The visuals here were wonderful: Rohan comes to life as a medieval land complete with peasants and buildings lifted from the same era as Braveheart. If the castle and Great Hall were little smaller than I’d imagined, it was quickly forgiven. Howard Shore’s music for Rohan is also worthy of mention; it’s a simple, beautiful theme played on strings, perfect for the rural community. When Gimli, Legolas, Aragorn, and Gandalf arrive on the scene, Theoden has clearly been bound by Saruman’s spells for a long time and only has ears for his assistant. In the proceeding showdown, which looks something like an exorcism, Saruman is defeated and Theoden comes back to himself. Years upon years fall from his whitened face and his cloudy eyes fill with new clarity. He is a man who has been freed.

Rohan is under attack and the King decides—against the Fellowship’s advice—to retreat to Helm’s Deep, a massive fortress that has protected them in the past. The ensuing battle is one of the visual highlights of the film; scores of orcs and Uruk-Hai throw themselves at the towering stone walls, and action fans will get their fill of battle. Ironically, the fight brings out a great deal of humor, especially with Gimli (John Rhys-Davies), who finally comes into his own as a character. He is too short for the world of men: in the lull before the battle, Gimli stands next to Legolas (Orlando Bloom) in the first row of warriors at the top of the tower, watching the enemy’s approach… unfortunately, he can’t see a thing. All he sees is the stone wall that only reaches half a man’s height. In a reprise of the scene in The Fellowship of the Ring where he declares that “No one tosses a dwarf,” he asks Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) to throw him onto the bridge leading to the fortress’s main gate; he is not tall enough to jump himself. Helm’s Deep also provides a major deviation from the novel, one that I personally opposed: the elves, deciding that they cannot leave the men in their hour of need, appear en masse to defend Rohan. This significantly changes one of Tolkien’s themes: the time of the elves is past, and men must finally come into their own. Middle Earth is theirs now, and they have the responsibility to protect it. However, director Peter Jackson felt it necessary to unite the elves and men, reminiscent of the last great battle against Sauron, perhaps bowing to the call for peace and unity in our own times.

Another elf plot-line could have been handled with more care: the Arwen-Aragorn love story. While it added a dimension of romance to the film, the frequent dream sequences in which the lovers connect bordered on annoying. I suppose the writers wanted to make it abundantly clear that Aragorn’s heart belongs to Arwen (Liv Tyler) and not Eowyn of Rohan (Miranda Otto), whose longing looks make her feelings clear. The one sequence that I did appreciate was when Elrond warns Arwen that even if all of her hopes come true, even if they win and Aragon returns to her, the son of Arathorn will still die. One day, she will be left alone. This alludes to a passage from the Appendix; after Aragorn’s death as an old, majestic king, Arwen retreats to the woods, where she lives for years.

The other major departure from the novel comes from Faramir. In Tolkien’s work, Faramir (David Wenham) is entirely different from his brother; Boromir is a prototypical warrior, brave but brash, liable to rush into trouble without thinking. A learned man, Faramir, who loves poetry and song but is no less of a warrior, recognizes the Ring for the evil it is. He does not repeat the mistakes of his brother; he does not succumb to the lure of the Ring. However, in the film, Faramir is the copy of his kin. He captures Frodo and Sam, forcing them to travel to Gondor with his men. Like Boromir, he intends to use the Ring to save his homeland—he does not release them until they encounter a Nazgul, which forces him to realize the Ring’s destructive power. We already had one Boromir; we don’t need two.

However, some characters did make a wonderful appearance—the Ents, for example. Treebeard is rendered in all his tree-like glory, and with Ent Moot, Jackson again demonstrates the uncanny ability he possessed in the first film to deliver the images from your imagination onscreen. Not to mention that they also sound incredible: Treebeard’s voice is deep, resonating, and his breaths maximize the sound system’s capacity for bass. The battle of the Ents is a definite high spot; the tree-herders pick up huge rocks as though they were pebbles and take down Isengard by flooding the surrounding area, including all of the forges and Uruk-Hai breeding grounds.

The film is darker than the first effort, but filled with more humor at the same time. Frodo is increasingly seduced by the Ring; he constantly pets it and Sam worries, “You can’t take your eyes off it.” The Ring affects Frodo’s mood and begins to change his personality: he becomes irritable and angry without cause. Fortunately, he still has enough good to realize what is happening to him, but even the hobbit cannot come into close contact with such evil without being tainted. Jackson does a wonderful job of highlighting the affinity between Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Gollum (Andy Serkis); Gollum was once Smeagol, hobbit and Ring-bearer, and he serves as a reminder of what could happen to Frodo himself, given enough time. Yet there is still good in the creature. His frequent battles with himself—some of the most interesting scenes in the film to watch—were the cause of much laughter in the theater. Gollum wants to take back his Precious, but Smeagol, the good half, likes Frodo: “Master will protect us.” In one of the funniest points in the film, Smeagol finally banishes his other self and dances around: “He’s gone! I told him to go and he went!” However, before the film’s end, Gollum returns with plans to take back his Precious. Though the film stops before the book does, Jackson leaves us with the anticipation of She in the next release.

Overall, The Two Towers was much better than the first Lord of the Rings effort, but the departures from Tolkien’s original will give diehard fans of the books some reservations. Nonetheless, it is wonderfully captivating and leaves me eager for the last part of the trilogy.

^ Top | 2:12 AM | | |